This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-347598 filed on Nov. 13, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a wire winding apparatus and a method for manufacturing an armature.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an armature for a dynamo electric machine has an armature core, which includes a plurality of salient poles, and wires are wound around the salient poles of the armature core.
A wire winding apparatus, which has wire nozzles for winding the wires around the salient poles, is known. Each wire nozzle of the wire winding apparatus is used to guide a corresponding wire, which extends from a corresponding wire bobbin, along each of two slots arranged on opposite sides, respectively, of each salient pole to wind the wire around the salient pole. The wire nozzles are slidable in a predetermined direction. The armature core can be rotated about its rotational axis synchronously with the slide movement of the wire nozzles.
FIG. 11 schematically shows a state where wire nozzles of a previously proposed wire winding apparatus are used to wind wires around one of salient poles of an armature. A first wire 281 and a second wire 282 are supplied and guided from a first wire nozzle 224 and a second wire nozzle 225, respectively. When a nozzle support 229, which supports the first and second nozzles 224, 225, is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 11 around a salient pole 284, the first and second wires 281, 282 are wound around the salient pole 284.
However, when the first and second wires 281, 282 are wound around the salient pole 284, the first wire 281 and the second wire 282 could be twisted at a corner 284a of the salient pole 284. In FIG. 11, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d indicates a twist where the first wire 281 and the second wire 282 are twisted to each other.
When such twisting occurs, it is not possible to wind the wires around the salient pole while maintaining proper alignment of the wires relative to each other. Thus, an occupancy rate of the wires on the salient pole is reduced, so that an output of a corresponding dynamo electric machine cannot be improved.
The present invention addresses the above disadvantages. Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to address the above-described disadvantages.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing an armature. In the method, a plurality of wires are simultaneously wound around each of a plurality of salient poles of an armature core using a wire nozzle unit, wherein the wire nozzle unit includes a plurality of wire nozzles, each of which receives and guides a corresponding one of the wires. During the winding of the wires, the wires, which are supplied from the wire nozzle unit, are placed between a first end and a second end of the armature core along a first one of two slots, which are arranged on opposite sides, respectively, of a corresponding one of the salient poles. Then, the wire nozzle unit is rotated 180 degrees about a rotational axis of the wire nozzle unit, which is generally perpendicular to the axis of the armature core. Thereafter, the wires, which are supplied from the wire nozzle unit, are placed between the second end and the first end of the armature core along a second one of the slots.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, there is also provided a wire winding apparatus, which winds a plurality of wires simultaneously around each of a plurality of salient poles of an armature core. The wire winding apparatus includes a wire nozzle unit, which is rotatable about a rotational axis of the wire nozzle unit, and a rotating means for rotating the wire nozzle unit about the rotational axis of the wire nozzle unit. The rotational axis of the wire nozzle unit is generally perpendicular to the axis of the armature core, and the wire nozzle unit includes a plurality of wire nozzles, each of which receives and guides a corresponding one of the wires along each of two slots, which are arranged on opposite sides, respectively, of each of the plurality of salient poles, to wind the wires around each of the plurality of salient poles. The rotating means is constructed to rotate the wire nozzle unit 180 degrees when the wire nozzle unit is moved from one of the two slots to the other of the two slots.